Settlement Agreements Finalized in Kendrec Mcdade Lawsuits amount to over $1 Million

An emotional rally outside city hall in April of 2012 saw from left: Joe Brown, then NAACP President for Pasadena; Anya Slaughter, Kendrec McDade’s mother; Caree Harper, Attorney and Kenneth McDade, the father of the deceased – Photo by Terry Miller

By Terry Miller

After years of anguish and more than two years of legal proceedings Pasadena City Attorney / City Prosecutor Michele Beal Bagneris announced Monday that attorneys for the City of Pasadena, Ms. Anya Slaughter and Mr. Kenneth McDade have finalized mutual settlements in the lawsuits by Ms. Slaughter and Mr. McDade regarding the March 2012 fatal shooting of their son, Kendrec McDade, by Pasadena police officers who were responding to a 911 armed robbery call.

McDade was shot and killed by Pasadena Police officers Mathew Griffin and Jeffrey Newlen in March 2012 following a 911 call of an armed robbery. McDade was later found to be unarmed. The 911 caller, Oscar Carrillo, later admitted he lied about the suspects being armed in order to get a faster police response and he has been convicted of making a false report. Carrillo may face deportation.
The officers shot McDade seven times, according to the coroner’s report.

The settlements were finalized June 16, 2014, with no finding of fault or liability by the City, the Pasadena Police Department and its officers. The settlements are a final resolution to the lawsuits in which settlements were reached in principle last week, but the terms could not be made public until the agreements were fully finalized and executed, including payments to both parents.

The agreements included monetary settlements for the parents, who, in turn, agreed to dismiss their lawsuits against the City and Pasadena police officers. Ms. Slaughter has received $850,000 and Mr. McDade has received $187,500. All parties agreed to absorb their own legal fees.

-Kenneth McDade said through his attorney that “Although I am satisfied with the settlement, there is no amount, large or small, that will bring Kendrec back to his mother, who he lived with, or back to me who he was running to the night he was hunted down by cowards with badges. More importantly, I am happy with the attorney’s work that created a real conversation about change in police policy in the City of Pasadena and who kept Kendrec’s name alive while there have been even more killings of young Black men since Kendrec was killed over 2 1/2 years ago. I hope the conversations about change do not end with the discussion of money. This was never about money to me; I still want the officers responsible for my son’s death to go to jail. I hope the D.A., who was elected after the so-called “justified” shooting, re-examines the unsworn stories versus stories given under oath in depositions and rethinks bringing criminal charges against them. I hope the focus will be on the individual officers now, and on having an independent oversight committee on all police shootings made up of people from all walks of life.”

Additional information about the settlements can be found in the settlement agreements, which are a matter of public record.

June 17, 2014

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